Women shooters on target at Asian Games

Along with a bronze from the men's quick-fire pistol team o­n Sunday, the medal tally from the shooting events were much better than initial expectations, according to head of Vietnam's ASIAD team Nguyen Hong Minh.

The Vietnamese women's team, which includes Nguyen Thi Thu Hang and Do Thu Tra, scored an accumulated 1064 points, a mere 19 points behind gold medalists Kazakhstan.

Ha scored 190 in the slow moving discipline and 178 in the fast for a combined 368, which was 18 points behind gold medalist Xu Xuan, the o­nly Chinese woman to take part in the event. Kazkhastan's Natalya Gurova was 15 points behind to take the individual silver.

Hang earned 352 points to rank 5th overall, while Tra managed 344 to place 7th. They were both a step behind Kazakhstan's Anna Pushkaryova and Juliya Bemer who ranked 4th and 6th respectively.

Host Qatar took the bronze in the team event with 912 points.

Vietnamese champion Luong Chi Dung and Do Hoang Quan defeated the Philippines' Andam Leonardo and Punzalan Alvin in three straight sets (51-16,53-45,62-19) in the men's snooker doubles. The duo move o­n to the round of 16.

Nguyen Thanh Long also clinched a spot in the sweet 16 after defeating Al Obaidli Mihanaa of the host nation in three sets (100-33,100-43,100-46) in the men's English billiards singles.

In Sepak Takraw, the women's team reached-the semi-finals after a 2-1 victory over China to lead group Y. They will play Indonesia today in the semis.

Checkmate

Grand Master (GM) Dao Thien Hai took home a silver medal in the men's rapid Swiss competition for Vietnam yesterday. He fell to China's GM Bu Xiangzhi during round 7 yesterday. The loss knocks Hai off the co-leader board.

Another Vietnamese GM, Nguyen Anh Dung, drew with Iranian Ehsan Moradiabadi yesterday. Dung now has 4.5 points after seven rounds.

Women's GM Nguyen Thi Thanh An suffered a loss to Mongolian GM Munguntuul Batkhuyag, to remain at four points in the rapid Swiss competition.

Southeast Asian Games 100m breaststroke gold medallist Nguyen Huu Viet did not perform well in the men's 50m breaststroke qualifiers o­n Sunday, finishing 5th out of seven in 30.20 seconds, 1.44 seconds behind Japanese winner Sakimoto Hirasima.

The women's volleyball team suffered their second straight defeat, losing to Chinese Taipej despite taking the first set 25-23. The Taiwanese took the next three sets 25-18,25-15,25-14.

Top cycling hopes Dang Trung Hieu and Mai Cong Hieu also performed poorly in the men's road race o­n Sunday. Trung Hieu finished 22nd out of 30, while Southeast Asian Games medallist Cong Hieu did not complete the race.